Gary Readore

Taiji enthusiasts in Houston, Texas were treated to an unexpected treat, a visit from Master Joseph Chen due to a flight layover. Master Chen’s disciple in Houston, Jeff Clevenger, arranged for a get-together with Master Chen which included breakfast, a training session at a local park followed by lunch at a good BBQ restaurant, before Master Chen had to fly out in the early afternoon. Although it was short notice and during the work week, five participants showed up to meet and train with Master Chen.

I came across this video while surfing YouTube and was surprised to see that a lot of the concepts talked about are very similar to what I have heard Master Chen discuss, such as:

Don’t push at the contact point but don’t pull away either, use the elbow to pull/rotate around the contact point, use the center to move the body, apply power to the hand but not the arm, don’t engage or push into the opponent’s strength, …

For those of you that come from other taichi backgrounds and now do the Practical Method, I’m curious as to what led you along this path. Also, what was your first impression of the Practical Method style? I’ll tell you a little about my story. Read more

Master Chen and to those on this web site, I have a question I would like to get your input on. In the taichi classics there is an expression, “Stillness in Motion, Motion in Stillness”. I’ve always had this explained to me that it relates to the mind being still while the body is in motion and vice versa. This has always perplexed me somewhat and didn’t seem like a thorough answer. Read more

I have a question for you. I have heard you use the term “power up” quite a bit in the context of push hands. Can you elaborate on this some more, as I am not quite clear on what this exactly is since I have not been able to meet you yet or experience this myself. Perhaps a mini-lesson would be possible.

I have been following your on-line for about a year now and started trying to learn the Yilu form from your videos about 6 months ago. About 2 months ago I was able to contact Alex Renwick here in Houston and he has been kind enough to offer assistance in helping me learn the Yilu form.

Master Chen, I have a question for you related to the use of the dantian and coccyx. In reading the book “Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method, Volume One: Theory” which you translated from Hong Junsheng’s writings, it says that the sinking of the qi to the dantian has a lot to do with the actions of the coccyx, and that the coccyx should actually curl up backwards. Read more

I was reading through some of the student/user posts and came across a submittal by Wilkin Ng regarding the Maple Ridge workshop last year. In it he was talking about the concept of not “pushing” in doing push hands. Your reply confirmed that there is no pushing in push hands, but went on to say that “every push must be a pull”. Can you elaborate on this last statement. Read more